Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern New Mexico - Nonprofit of the Month October 2014

The Big Brothers Big Sisters Mission is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported 1-to-1 relationships that change their lives for

the better, forever.

Purpose:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern New Mexico is the only youth mentoring program serving at-risk youth ages 6 to 17 in New Mexico that follows the proven, evidence- based one-on-one service delivery model based on the 22 Standards of Excellence from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. In addition, our program has been recognized nationally and locally as outstanding in its outcomes for children and youth.

One hundred percent of our youth outcome surveys are completed when a youth reaches the one-year anniversary of their match. This helps us to know how the match impacted the youth’s life. Be a part of something Big! Be a part of changing lives for the better, forever. Volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern New Mexico.

Key goals:

One of the goals of the organization is making sure that being a Big Brother or Big Sister is one of the most enjoyable things you’ll ever do. Not to mention, one of the most fulfilling.

Volunteers have the opportunity to help shape a child’s future for the better by empowering them to achieve. And the best part is, it’s actually a lot of fun. Bigs and Littles can share the kinds of activities they already like to do.

Volunteering just a few hours a month with a child can start something amazing. It all starts with the right role models. And Big Brothers Big Sisters is the place to start a relationship with one. For more than 100 years, due in large part to private donations, we’ve been able to recruit, screen, match and support mentoring relationships that have changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people across the country – one Little at a time.

Volunteers feel the impact as much as the child and a study for Big Brothers Big Sisters found that kids matched with a Big Brother or Big Sister achieved the goals and:

• Aremoreconfident

• Aremorelikelytosteerclearof drugs and alcohol

• Dobetterinschool

• Getalongbetterwiththeirfamily and friends

• Feelbetteraboutthemselves

History:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern New Mexico has operated in Las Cruces for 25 years.

However, for more than a century, Big Brothers Big Sisters has been helping change kids’ perspectives and giving them the opportunity to reach their potential. And we have more than a century of volunteers, donors and advocates to thank.